The things you see on the mission field!

We just got back from visiting some friends who've recently built and moved into their own house. We stopped at the top of our road at the little market stalls to pick up a couple of watermelons to take with us (never visit empty handed here). We pulled up to the little stall and there was a large crowd standing around. This is never a good sight as that usually means thieves have been caught and killed. But this crowd was looking up. There was a "mad" man running and jumping across the rooftops of the shops there. He had a big piece of plastic and long grass wrapped around his head. The roofs were super old so he was falling through the rusty zinc up to his waist and then pulling himself out. People were shouting and throwing stuff at him. Then he starting throwing stuff and a stick hit our truck (time to roll up the widows!). Next he jumped up and twisted himself in the electric wires that were just above the roofs. Finally about 4 guys got up there and tackled him and brought him down. The police were already there and I couldn't see if they took him away or not as there was a huge crowd by then. Seth started to cry when the guys tackled him but I explained that they were trying to stop him from hurting himself. We said a prayer for the man. So we got our two watermelon and headed off. 

There is a lot of what they call "mad" people in Cameroon. In Yaounde you would see them everyday, usually stark naked with bags and twigs in their hair. Bamenda has a few, I didn't recognize this guy though. There is a mental institution in town but I can't even imagine what that is like. I know these people really need Jesus and would love to see a work started with them.  Who knows what they have been through to get to the state that they are in. Anyway, never a dull moment in Cameroon!